Dragon Civil War
=Introduction= The Dragon Civil War was a series of battles taking place mainly around the Dragon Temple complex, the cities of Warfang and Warclaw, and the Valley of Avalar, as well as in the Realm of Convexity, the Celestial Caves, the Mountain of Malefor, and surrounding environs. It was fought primarily in the central regions of the Dragon Confederation between forces of the government and various races aligned with Malefor. Origins 10 generations prior to the birth of Cynder and the organization of the Dragon Confederation, Malefor was born in the Dragon Temple, an ancient complex of buildings built on Temple Mountain. As a rare purple dragon, he was held in great esteem of the ancient dragon elders that they thought him the secrets of mastering all of the elements then known. However, as he grew older, he became dissatisfied with the elders. As he developed an untamed lust for power, he attempted to overthrow the elders, who exiled him to an ancient Mountain, which he then turned into a fortress. from here, he thought apes how harness the power of Spirit Gems, crystalline formations from which the dragons could draw power and heal their wounds after battle. eventually, the far more ancient mountains' foundations cracked under the pressure of his malice, creating the Well of Souls. as he continued to resist the council, he was eventually defeated in battle, and his spirit and essence separated into separate entities. His spirit was imprisoned within his fortress, while his essence was imprisoned in the Realm of Convexity inside an ancient Precursor vessel. All portals to this realm were sealed with powerful magic to prevent them being used. One, however, was not, and it would serve as a catalyst for the war that followed. Signs of trouble After nearly a generation of peace, the Cheetah city of Warclaw was attacked, and though it is a failure due to the city's highly developed defenses, it nonetheless alerts the High Council that the era of peace they had so thoroughly enjoyed was coming to an end. After Cinder , the last surviving relative to Cynder died, the dragoness went into a fit of grief, and sealed herself away on the upper floors of the Obsidian Tower. Soon after various celestial phenomenon began to occur, as two of the planet's moons moved closer to the planet, causing unusual tidal patterns, and threatening coastal cities with annihilation. This alarmed the Council, who sought the aid of the nearby Atlantean Confederation, who responded by destroying the moons, which were in a decaying orbit. soon afterwords, Cynder and Spiril are reborn, and laid within the nursery of the Dragon Temple. Early Phase The Dragon Temple came under siege by the apes soon after this, and it's ancient fortifications failed. As a result, the entire temple was overrun, most of the Elders defeated, and all but two eggs were destroyed. Fira hid Spiril's egg in the swamps surrounding the temple, while Cynder's was taken. during the following decade, Cynder terrorized the countryside, oblivious to the consequences of her actions. When the apes, who had subsequently became subservient to her, attacked the Escabar Marshlands, Spiril left the swamps, barely avoiding a confrontation with her before running into Fira, who proceeded to recount the numerous battles that had taken place after the temple's fall, stating that before Cynder appeared in her corrupted state, that they were on the verge of winning the war. After losing many battles, the Elders had been taken, one by one, to parts unknown by the dragoness, while only Fira managed to escape and hide from her army. As they proceed to retake the Temple, which had stood abandoned for nearly a decade, elements of this army found Fira with Spiril, and proceeded to attack both of them. After this fails, Fira proceeds to help Spiril master the element of fire, before sending him to Dante's Freezer. Arriving at the ice cap, he finds Cynder's army in the midst of a war against an army of undead soldiers, who have occupied various scattered and ruined forts and castles around the continent. After fighting his way through the ruined buildings, he encounters Cynder for the first time flying high above him, before fighting through yet another series of ruined buildings, after which he discovers a vast glacial cavern, in which the Hierarch Volt had been imprisoned by her. When he goes to rescue the bound hierarch, a large undead soldier rises to fight him. Defeating it, He proceeds to unbind the Hierarch before he and Volt return to the Temple, where Volt reveals the Cynder is draining the elders' powers into crystalline orbs in order to open a portal into the Realm of Convexity. Fira then proceeds to send Spiril to Tall Plains, the Homeland of the Atlowa. After fighting through the fortified canyons and surviving the Atlowas' various traps,he manages to track down Cyril, who has been imprisoned within the tribe's principal shrine. Moving to free the Councilor, a broken statue comes to life and attacks. Freeing the Elder, the two return to the Temple, where the elders try to re-assert the High Councils' power. Fira then sends him to Munitions' Forge to recover the last of the elemental Hierachs, Terrador. The Island's volcano is threatening to erupt, and the inhabitants have been forced to mine surface veins of iron by the apes, though they essentially blame their woes on Cynder. Fighting through the apes' forces, Spiril eventually manages to reach Terrador, who is still imprisoned, his powers being drained into a crystalline orb like the others. When he attempts to free Terrador, he is confronted by Cynder, who emerges from a nearby pit of lava. After she takes the crystal, Terrador proceeds to attack her, though Cynder seemlessly knocks him away from her with her tail, sending him back to the ground in a spectacular fashion, before turning her attention to Spiril. Terrador then orders him to flee from her. (in the original text, it is said that she attempts to eat him at this point, though she never is able to get close enough to do so). Barely escaping the erupting volcano, Cynder is then attacked by Fira, though this to ends in failure, and Cynder proceeds to take fira to her Lair, where she begins to drain his powers into an orb. Spiril is eventually sent to her fortress there, and after managing to defeat her remaining forces, confronts the dragoness herself. weakening her, she successfully drains Firas' power into a power crystal, before activating the portal into the Realm of Convexity, and entering it. Spiril follows her into this realm, and after yet another battle, barely manages to defeat her, removing Malefors' influence from her. She then reverts to a younger form, which Spiril then proceeds to drag back through the Convexity portal, which then collapses. Late Phase 3 years later, Spiril is being contacted in his dreams by the Chronicler, who proceeds to warn him of an incoming attack on the temple. Spiril them awakens and is told by his friends that they have seen Cynder sneaking around the Temples' outer gardens late at night. He then proceeds to confront her about this, stating to her that it is dangerous for her to be outside the Temples' walls at night. She is unfazed by this and proceeds to leave as the Temple comes under siege once more. Fighting through the ancient underground structures of the temple, Spiril then meets up with Fira, who is struggling to fight off the forces attacking the temple, but is eventually overwhelmed. The enemy then attack Spiril, who barely manages to defeat them. During the convensation that follows, Spiril reveals that Cynder has left the Temple, and also the attempts of the Chronicler to contact him. The council then proceed to search for Cynder in the vacinity of the Temple, while Spiril is sent into the Ancient grove, part of the jungles between Temple Mountain and the Escabar Marshlands, in order to seek out the Chronicler, who is the sole survivor of the ancient council that exiled Malefor. Fighting through the areas' savage inhabitants, He is eventually captured by Pirates and taken to their flagship, where he is forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena against various other creatures that had been captured by the pirates, before they attempt to force him to fight Cynder, but she refuses to attack, insisting that fake a fight instead while they plan their escape. Before they can begin this, however, the Flagship is attacked by an army of apes, throwing the pirates into disarray. as the Pirates begin to fight each other, Spiril manages to free the prisoners on board the ship and escape, before passing out from exhaustion mid-flight over the ocean. Falling through an ancient Proto-Atlantean shield, he finds himself in the Celestial caves, a series of submerged islands littered with ruins. after fighting though the realms' stone guardians, he then fight an elemental dragon, whose purpose was to keep the final door in the Celestial Temple closed. The Chronicler then begins to recount Malefor's story, and that of both Spiril and Cynder (cited in the text above this) before telling Spiril to stay in the realm, where he believes it is safe. However, Spiril refuses, and embarks on a journey through a hidden cave that leads to a platform outside the Mountain of Malefor. Fighting to the top of this mountain, he then confronts Gaul, the king of all the apes, who orders Cynder to attack him. She does so only half-heartedly, before attacking Gaul, who incapacitates her. As they fight, the orbiting moons overhead eclipse, beginning the Night of Eternal Darkness, and freeing Malefor's spirit from it's prison withing the mountain. After Spiril defeats Gaul, they then move to escape the mountain fortress, which has begun to collapse. After the only exit collapses and traps them inside of the mountain, Spiril uses powerful magic to freeze them inside a stasis crystal, which is eventually taken to the Catacombs. End Malefor, now restored to his mortal form, attacks the Dragon Temple, and overruns it's defenses. as a result, the High Council flee back to Warfang, and Malefor later proceeds to lay siege to the ancient city. Meanwhile, Hunter, a member of the cheetah council in the nearby city of Athens, begins to search for Spiril and Cynder. at some point, Malefor raises the Dragon Temple above the landscape, turning the Ancient Grove and the Escabar marshlands into a Volcanic Wasteland, and surrounding it with an impenetrable belt of elemental fire. Hunter eventually finds the entrance into the Catacombs, and finds both dragons under attack by the Golem of the Deep, which he then attacks. After escorting Spiril and Cynder out of the ancient Catacombs, he proceeds to inform them of the current war against Malefor, before they are attacked and captured by the Cheetah Tribe, and taken back to Athens. after their release, they proceed to Warfang, where Cynder is carried back to the palace and proclaimed queen of the city. Neyla then shows up with several cruisers, and warns of another assault on the city. during the ensuing battle, Cynder kills and partially eats Malefor before beginning excavations at various Precursor relics, using Qutar to gain access to computer terminals within the ruins, which contain data related to the Koozer-Ga War. Cynder then accidentally traps herself in a submerged relic, where she uses a portal in an attempt to escape, however, it teleports her to another planet. Spiril then goes after her and they both return to Warfang, which is promptly besieged. barely holding the City's walls, the army retreats, only for the Golem of the Deep to attack the city, causing massive destruction of it's buildings. Barely defeating it with the help of the High Council, they return to the city walls, just in time to witness Malefor resurrect the Destroyer, which the dragons attempt to stop in a canyon east of the city. Failing this, the Councilors evacuate nearly everyone underground, with Fira attempts to lead Spiril and Cynder into the Burned Lands, as the Belt of fire had been weakened. With his shields failing, Fira then teleports away, flinging the younger dragons into the volcanic wasteland beyond, leading Spiril to believe that he has died. They then proceed to confront and defeat Malefor, and he is sealed away once again, ending the war. After the war, Cynder would later carry our excavations on A Precursor Shield World, leading to the second phase of the Koozer-Ga War.